Tat-tea: Indian Railway vendors caught using toilet water to brew tea

The Indian Railways proudly calls itself the world’s largest employer but seems to be unaware that its vendors are up to unscrupulous activities. Several irate passengers complained of the catering services of the Indian Railways and in a new video that is going viral on the internet, a group of workers can be seen filling up tea containers with water from a toilet.

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t like tea. And with thousands of commuters using the Railways, it is expected that people will order their favourite drink. Reports mention that the water from the toilets was used to prepare tea and coffee for passengers aboard the Charminar Express at Secunderabad railway station. The video of the incident was reportedly recorded in December last year.

According to reports, the Railways fined the contractor Rs 1 lakh. SCR Chief Public Relations Officer M Umashankar Kumar said that the two people seen in the video were unauthorized hawkers. He added that both of them, along with some others, have been removed from the station, following a drive against unauthorized hawking.

#IndianRailways employee serving tea with water from the toilet. #WaterIsLifeGv t says it’s a vendor, but the video clearly shows railway employees working as a team to fetch water from the toilet. #India

"Tea cans filled with water from train toilet; Railways slaps contractor with Rs 1 lakh penalty"Its not enough only. Terminate contract with all such bastards, its cheating practice all over with travelers in Indian Rail. @RailMinIndia@PiyushGoyal| @narendramodi

The video of the ‘toilet tea’ as it is being called has incurred the wrath of social media users who slammed the Railways for their shoddy services.

The incident adds further embarrassment to the Indian Railways which in recent times have been criticized for poor standards of service. The Railways said that it is working to implement a catering system akin to the ones found on airlines, though the system will be tested on short journey trains.